The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-12
The Unnecessarily Dead.

| are not alive to the force of soap as an
argument. With fearful eyes he sees
how the ordinary processes of nourish-
/ ment and decay in nature are a slough
| of despond. into which millions of peo-
| pie yearly fall and perish, as if death,
| like a pirate blindfolded his victims and
made them walk the plank. He counts
| the dead and tells the number to the liv-
/ ing. but those who are impressed with
| the truth, are generally not those upon
i whom the truth needs most to be I'M
| pressed. The work of the sanitarian is
| not directed in behalf of those whose
| names daily fill column of death no
tees in the metropolitan newspapers
1t will be found that the majority of peo-
| pie thus publicly mOurned are eithe r
| very young or very old; either children
| who enjoyed the attendance of a family
physician, or men and women who chung
to existence with all the life saving APP
paratus of modern medicinal and surg
ical device.
Death rate is term to express the
| involuntary and voluntary tribute of
man to nature. There was time, not
| very long ago. before society was or
ganized except for the ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
| of kinds, when no Importance was placed
upon human life even in the aggregate.
AS there was no record kept of the OBJ
| scure dead there was no death rate.
Europe lost multitudes of men century
| after century by war and pestilence AMI
| counted it profitable to- get in exchange
| a new section of territory or the rid
danceof lot of non tax paying subjects.
But somehow there was a lack of peO-
ply to improve and pay taxes upon newly
| acquired land and the world was full of
beggars. The great plague of the Sew
enteenth Century, that almost depopu-
| lated London. first opened the eyes of
the English Government to the fact that
the life of every man. no matter how
| poor or obscure he may be. Is worth so
| much to his country, not alone III an
| eticnal but in a financial sense. Death
and disease were seen to be never boon
but always a tax upon the community.
1t has heen estimated that "A self sup
porting man is worth about 5000 to
society at large in the United States.
| Many are worth much more, many
| much less, but the increased activity in
every branch of trade and industry
| which the necessities of one mans mere
| existence such as food. raiment and rec
reation entail, amount on the average to
a net public valuation during his life of
5000. The death rate is therefore tax
rate in this country, with $1,000 as a
basis of percentage. 1t Is dIsproportIon-
ately large or small IN exact ratio with
the mortality prevailing among the wage
workers, and as this mortality tiuctuates
/
| enforcement of health laws, the actnal
money value of sanitary science is an in
disputable as the PHYSICAL advantages of
food and drink.
| Progressive as are American ideas on
this subject, this country sutfera set
back in mongrel character of its lnhab-
| itants. MultitudeS of languages, habits
| of European sloth and Asiatic parsi-
mony, stinginess, of living inherent with
l Iv natI IN
and to- disease are some but not all of
the peculiarities which mark the deluge
of immigrants landing on these shores.
| These settlers have no idea of changing
their methods of life unless con Delled
| to do so. Whether they lodge liz the city
tenement or drift into the interior. they
carry with them Objectionable influence
of these sor,li1 traits of foreign charac-
ter. They are not frugal but penurious
in supplying the most common needs of
| the body. Ii is n mistake to suppose that
in So doing these many thousand oi
adventures harm none but themselves.
| They cannot he reached by literature,
, | not even by the newspapers, and In this
| respect their ignorance is not attributable
r | to "A cause different from that which
blinds thousands of native born or nat
1 | uraliZed Americans who can certainly
read.
/ With the growth of this new science
/ | of sanitary conditions for the people. il
: | is natural to look around for leading
5 mind and reliable authority, and in
2 | Edwin Chadwick, G.. b., President oi
> the Association of Public Sanitary In
, | spectors of England, we find sucl
: one. In the course of "a recent address
/ | in Westminster. President Chadwick re-
marked that Brooklyn was conspicu
ously advanced in its adoption of the
principles of sanitation. as here the police
; | force is manned after competitive exam
= | nations of candidates as tn their knowl-
edge of the sanitary functions of theii
duty. No class of paid officers are in a
position to more effectualty promote
, public health than the police. President
Chadwick was perhaps a little eXtrava-
giant in his praise of Brooklyn, but any
defect perceptible to the readers of the
| Eagle is not due to lack of information
or of public sentiment in this direction
Statistics should he interesting if ever in
: connection with the probable length of
each individual life, and during the ten
wears from 1876 to 1856 the death rate in
Brooklyn has not steadily decreased, but
after falling | or per cent in 1873, lS.!
and 1884 il remains at about "a in 1000.
, | The duration of life in the United States
and in England is longer than in any
| other country where sanitary science has
, | reached the dignity of public policy. Ii
, thirty years, the limit of the life of a
generation helf century ago. Where
Legislative functions are weak. there the
| productive power of tie population and
| their longevity Is also less. But even m
. representative governments the element
of despotism must be suffered to pre-
vail, in order that the wisdom of the
few may he put in practice for the bene-
fit of the many. No citizen has right
/ | to build his house upon miaSmatic soil
, even if he intends to die there alone
| His life is worth much to society, ana
| by such course. he adds to the Offenst
l | of suicide the crime of robbery. If III
, has a family, his crime is the greater.
a Preventible disease is therefore the oh
I ject against which sanitary science en-
lists the common sense and humanity oi
every man who wishes to- profit by the
} general prosperity of the community in
D which he lives. Taking the death rate
of Great Britain as n basis. and accept
; | ing 1t as representative of the lowest
possible mortality consequent upon a ma
tional enforcement of the laws of health
; it is a fact that i'll France the death rat,
q | Is 3 III 200 more than i'm England, which
q means that there Is preventible slaugh
ter there of liz, 900 lives more than Their,
? is now in England. In Germany tn,
death rate is q in 900 higher than IN
England, and in Italy in 200 higher
which latter percentage implies a sacri
, | flee of 22f, 900 lives To the wastefulneS.
! of ignorance in the Mediterranean pc
: ninsula. In Austria the death rate is |
II in 200 above the English death rate
: which occasions a loss to that empire q
!, upward of 100000 people more than il
y England and Wales. Yet it is from tn
last two named countries. where human
life Is held 50 cheaply, that the Unite,
| SfHtpS a art #